Wednesday, October 16, 2013

From The Muslim Times


http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/10/countries/malaysia/malaysia-court-rules-non-muslims-cannot-use-allah

Malaysia court rules non-Muslims cannot use ‘Allah’

Posted by 
Epigraph: Say, ‘O People of the Book! come to a word equal between us and you — that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him, and that some of us take not others for Lords beside Allah.’ But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to God.’ (Al Quran 3:65)
Kuala Lumpur: Petronas Twin Towers
Source: BBC
A Malaysian court has ruled that non-Muslims cannot use the word Allah to refer to God, even in their own faiths, overturning a 2009 lower court ruling.
The appeals court said the term Allah must be exclusive to Islam or it could cause public disorder.
People of all faiths use the word Allah in Malay to refer to their Gods.
Christians argue they have used the word, which entered Malay from Arabic, to refer to their God for centuries and that the ruling violates their rights.
One Malaysian Christian woman said the ruling would affect the community greatly.
“If we are prohibited from using the word Allah then we have to re-translate the whole Bible, if it comes to that,” Ester Moiji from Sabah state told the BBC.
‘Disappointed and dismayed’
The 2009 ruling sparked tensions, with churches and mosques attacked.
It came after the government said that a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, could not use the word in its Malay-language edition to describe the Christian God.
The newspaper sued, and a court ruled in their favour in December 2009. The government then launched an appeal.

Posted by  on October 14, 2013. Filed under Malaysia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

14 Responses to Malaysia court rules non-Muslims cannot use ‘Allah’

  1. Zia Shah
    October 14, 2013 at 2:22 am
    The Muslim Times is appalled at the small mindedness of the Court in Malaysia.
    Their decision does not help their religion, politics or economics.
    The Quran invites the Muslims to be the best people to rise to the service of mankind, by saying:
    You are the best people raised for the good of mankind; you enjoin what is good and forbid evil and believe in Allah. (Al Quran 3:111)
    And here are some of them, sinking to lowest level of intellect and understanding.
    The Court should consider, what was the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, Solomon, Jermiah, Ezra, John the Baptist and Jesus, may peace be on all of them?
    I like the analysis of BBC, when it says:
    Some Malaysians believe the governing Malay-Muslim party is using the case to boost its Islamic credentials among voters, the BBC’s Jennifer Pak reports from outside the court in Putrajaya.
    Malay Muslims make up almost two-thirds of the country’s population, but there are large Hindu and Christian communities.
    Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition won elections in May, but it was the coalition’s worst result in more than half a century in power.
    Once again politics has spoiled a simple and straight forward religious issue.
    This was an occasion to educate the public, but, it seems the government has taken a self serving short cut.
    It is time to educate the Muslims about topics like:


Read more: http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/10/countries/malaysia/malaysia-court-rules-non-muslims-cannot-use-allah#ixzz2hxTLWsgVAny source
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)